Ca 1854-63 / Watercolor on Manila paper / 55 x 70.2 cm / Artist: Jose Honorato Lozano / Eleuterio M. Pascual collection

This work belongs to the category of letras y figuras (letters and figures), a visual arts form that enjoyed patronage in the 19th century. Possibly influenced by the illustrated letters in the Punch magazine of Victorian England, it had its local adaptation in the works of Lozano and a few others. Done in dry brush watercolor on Manila paper, it mainly consisted of the capital letters of the patron’s name cleverly formed by trimmed foliage to provide support for the human figures in various activities. Each letter was itself a genre scene in miniature, displaying how naturally the artist could situate the figure to form part of the letter.

With each letter only a few inches high, the art of the miniaturist comes to play in the finely delineated figures of great variety and the tiny exquisite details of their costumes and accessories. Furthermore, the letters of the name, often on two or three levels, are situated in a lighter background of landscapes. In Lozano’s Francisco Garcia Ortiz, the letters forming “Francisco” are set against a view of Manila Bay with anchored foreign merchant ships; the letters forming “Garcia” are set against scenes of the Pasig River with the Puente de España (now Jones Bridge) on the left; and the letters forming “Ortiz” are set against a view of Intramuros including the Manila Cathedral, its main plaza, and street. Apart from their artistic value, they are good visual documentation of Manila in the late Spanish period.